Trademark Registration

 

 

Registration of your company name alone offers you very limited rights. You cannot stop others using your name. Trademark registration is the only secure way to protect your company identity. If you do not register it can lead to problems in the future.
If you want to be sure that you can use your new name without any problems, it is a good idea to check it by searching existing trademark rights. If this proves successful, then it is a good idea to monopolise your name outright by obtaining a trademark registration.
The process can be complicated, which is why we use trademark legal specialists to help you. You will receive clear and easy advice as well as being guided through the steps you will need to take.

What is a trademark?
A trademark is any sign that distinguished one business for another.
Obvious trademarks we all know are names like MICROSOFT, Direct Line’s jingle or the shape of the Coke bottle. They are valuable assets to the business that own them and they are all registered trademarks so that no one else can use them.

 

The value of a trademark
Businesses work hard and invest a great deal of money in being recognised by customers so that a customer will buy their product and not a competitors’. When you buy a bottle of Coke, you recognise the shape and the logo and you know that you are going to get a drink with a certain taste that you like and know is a quality product. With it goes a whole set of images that you hold in your mind from their advertising. Coca Cola has spent your whole life building up these associations, so when you see that special shaped bottle, you get a feel good factor and buy their Coke. If someone else could use that sort of shaped bottle, the product name and logo, all that hard work and investment would be wasted. Their sales advantage would be lost.

 

You might be a new business, but if you are going to be spending time and money building up your business, you want to be sure that no one can come along and take away your sales advantage and use your name for their own benefit. Trademarks are a serious matter.

 

Register your name
You will need to ensure that your name will not conflict with the prior rights of others first and then you should obtain your own rights by registering your name as a trademark.

 

When should you investigate trademark registration?
You should register your name as soon as possible. This can be more important than you think.
If you use your name and then find out it belongs to someone else, you could be forced to pay damages and legal fees to whoever owns the rights.
Even if there are no prior rights, if you do not register and someone else consequently registers the same name, they could then object to the use you have been making of their name in retrospect!
If you want to be the only one who can use your name, you need to register it as soon as possible.

 

For more information about registering your company’s trademark, contact us on 0800 061 2288 or email us through the contact page.